Control device



Jan. 24, 1961 R. VICENZI ETAL 2,969,077

CONTROL DEVICE Filed April 12, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 CONTROL DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 12, 1957 Reno L. VJcE-Nm Fsnomnuo F. Halssn A-r'roRNEY United States Patent CONTROL DEVICE Reno L. Vicenzi and 'Ferdinand'FL Heiser, Milwaukee, 'Wis., assignors to Controls Company of. Krnerica, Schiller'Park, 11]., a corporation of Delaware Filed Apr. 12, 1957, Ser. No. 652,427

14 Claims. (Cl. 137-66) This invention relates to control apparatus wherein one or two control devices areunder control of a single,;re-

jsettable, safety mechanism responsive to a condition.

During the resetting of the safety mechanism one of the control devices is-held in a safe position while the: other is moved to its operating position. The one controltdevice can move to its operating position only whenthe condition-responsive safety mechanism has been reset and a condition towhich it responds obtains. Thisinvention further contemplatesremoval of said one control device from regulation by the safety mechanism.

"This invention is an improvement upon the Vicenzi application Serial No. 657,850, filed May 8, 1957.

More specifically, this invention relates to a gas controlhaving a thermoelectric safety mechanism operative to regulate two valves, one of which regulates flow to the pilot burner and the other controls flow to themain :burner. The main burner valve is'closed whenever the safetyreset is actuated and can open only upon successful resetting of the safety. Furthermore, the apparatus permits selective removal of the main burner valve from control by thesafetymechanismandthis feature in turn permitsithe heating apparatus supplied by the control to .be shutdown for summer without additional valving separate valve installed in the line betweenthe usual gas control and the main burner or required a separate costly :plug valve to be incorporated within the, gas control it self. The present invention permits the necessary safety vflve to take over the function previously performed by these other valves by simply providing two safetyvalves of inexpensive construction-within the gas control and under the control of a singlesafety mechanism. In the absence of a pilot flame the valves controlling flow to both the pilot and the main burners are closed. Upon actuation of the reset mechanism to reset the safety only the pilot valve is open'so that completely safe conditions are maintained during the resetting operation. The main burner valve can only open if the safety-mechanism is in 'operativecondition. 'Even'if the reset is actuated while the safety mechanism is operative the main burner valve ice '2 ,will .beclosed. Furthermore, it is possible tolock the main ,burner valve ;in the :closed position so thesafet'y mechanism, in effect, only regulates the .pilot burner safetywalve. Under-these conditions it is impossible'to set-g t t y main bu n d, nce, p sion i mad for snmmenshutdown-ofthelfurnace.

It is also to be noted that this arrangement eliminates the .needyfor' the previously conventional plug valve and all .theassoeiated interlocking controls between the ,plug andthereset. Thisisaccomplished without sacrificing any oftheiunctions obtained with a separate plug valve.

'Theprinciple object of this invention ,is to provide .a gascontrol valve having, provision for summer shutdown of lthewcontrol without use of separate plug valves or the like.

Another. object. ofrthis-invention is to provide. a pair. of safetyvalves in'parallel relation, and under the control of asinglesafety device and wherein only one of these ,valvescan beopened during resetting ofthe safety, device.

.Aiurther objectof this invention is toprovidea gas controlhaving parallel safety valvesunder control of the single conditionresp-onsive safety device and wherein one of the valves can be selectively removed from control by the safety device to prevent flow through the orifice regulated by that valve.

Still another object of this invention is.to provide a .gas control havingparallel safety valves under the control of a single safety device which requiresresetting and wherein resetting of the safety device is operative to open only one of the two valves.

Another object of this invention is to provide a gas control having parallel safety valves under'the control of a single safety device which requires resetting and wherein only one of the valves is opened upon resetting of the safety device .and the other valve can be opened only upon the safety device having been reset.

Still another object of this invention is to provide control apparatus wherein one or optionally two control devices are under regulation of a single safety device.

Another object of this invention is to provide control apparatus having a pairof control devices regulatedby a condition responsive safety mechanism requiring resetting .and in which only one of the control devices is moved to its operating position during resetting of the condition responsive mechanism and the other control device can move to its operating position only upon ,successful resetting of the condition responsive safetymechanism and further characterized by including structure for selectively preventing movement ofsaid other control device to its operating position under any. condition of thecondition responsive safety mechanism.

Other objects and advantages will be pointed out in, or be apparent from, the specification and claims, aswill obvious modifications of the single embodiment shown in thedrawings' in which:

Figure 1 is a vertical section of a portion of the gas control which incorporates the present invention and shows the pilot safety valve open under control of'the safety mechanism while the main burner safety valve is closed to provide for summer shutdown of the heating apparatus supplied by the valve;

Figure 2 is similar to Figure l-but shows both-valves open;

Figure 3 is similar to' Figure lbut. shows-both-val-WS closed;

Figure 4 is a section taken on line 4-4 in Figure 3 to illustrate the lever mechanism;

Figure 5 is a section taken on line 5-5 in Figure 1 to show the bayonet lock; and

Figure 6 is taken along line 6 -6 in Figure 2 to show the bayonet connection released.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, the control is provided with a body 10 having an inlet 12 to chamber 14 having two outlets. One outlet 16 is regulated by valve 18 to control flow to the main burner. This flow passes the pressure regulating valve 20 carried by diaphragm 22 and may subsequently optionally be controlled by a thermostatic control or the like. Chamber 14 also has another outlet 24 which permits flow from the chamber around push pin 26 into chamber 28 (which may contain a filter) having conduit 30 connected to the pilot burner. Flow through outlet 24 from chamber 14 is regulated by valve 32 mounted on pin 26.

Main valve 18 and pilot valve 32 are carried by a compound lever system under control of a thermoelectric safety mechanism (frequently called a hood assembly) of conventional construction and including housing 34 containing the electromagnet and an armature carried by stem 36 biased outwardly by spring 38. The electromagnet is, of course, connected to a thermocouple (through conduit 40) which is placed next to the pilot burner in the usual manner. Unless the armature of the thermoelectric hood assembly is retained by the magnet spring 38 will exert a force on stem 36 to move lever 42 upwardly about its pivot 45 to move both the main valve 18 and the pilot valve 32 to their seats to shut olf flow through both outlets from chamber 14. Main valve 18 is carried by the right end of lever 44 pivotally connected to the sheared sides of lever 42 by pin 46. A light tension spring 48 biases the lever down in the direction to open the main valve 18 and to hold the left end of lever 44 up against shoulder 50 on the lower end of the fitting pinned at 52 to the push pin 26. The push pin passes through lever 44 and through lever 42 into guide well 54 in the housing. The upper end of the fitting 50 is provided with a plate 56 which serves as a seat for spring 58 compressed between the plate and the interior wall of chamber 14.

Spring'58 is stronger than spring 48 and, hence, is capable of overpowering spring 48 to hold the main valve 18 seated if the spring 58 is permitted so to act, as will be explained more fully hereinafter.

The upper end of pin 26 is headed at 60 to be engageable with the inturned flange 62 on the lower end of sleeve 64 fixed to lock-out cap 66. This lock-out cap is biased outwardly from body 10 by spring 68 to the extent permitted by engagement of the peripheral cap flange 70 with the underside of cover plate 72, as may be seen in Figure 2. Mounted on top of the lock-out cap is a reset button 74 having a push pin 76 fixed thereto and depending through sleeve 64 to act on pin 26, as will be explained more fully hereinafter. The reset button 74 is biased outwardly by spring 78 to the extent permitted by engagement of the peripheral flange 80 and the inwardly turned rim 82 of cover 84.

When both valves are closed (as in Figure 3) the armature spring 38 acts on the levers to move both valves up to their seats. It will be appreciated that in order to do this spring 38 must be strong enough to overcome both spring 48 and spring 58. Now then, if the reset button 24 is pushed down to move the button down to the dotted line position shown in Figure 1 and to also move the lock-out cap down to its limit of movement (as shown in Figure 1) pin 76 will 'be able to act on the top of pin 26 to move the left end of lever 44 downwardly so that it moves in a counter clockwise direction about pivot 46. As this happens, lever 44 will also rock about its right end where it is connected to the stem of the main valve 18. This, in turn, causes pivot 46 to move downwardly to make lever 42 rock about its pivot 45 to carry the armature downwardly to seat against the electromagnet in the hood assembly. When this has been done the pilot valve 32 has, of course, moved off its seat to permit fiow to the pilot burner so the pilot burner may be ignited. During this time the main burner valve 18 is held against its seat.

After the pilot burner has been ignited and the thermocouple energized to energize the holding magnet the reset button may be released to permit the reset button and the lock-out cap to move out to the position shown in Figure 2. Since the right end of lever 42 is held against the magnet, lever 42 will not move upwardly. Spring 68 under the lock-out cap is stronger than spring 58 and hence is capable of moving the lock-out cap up to the position shown in Figure 2 by overcoming the force of spring 58 to the extent that the sleeve 64 picks up the head 60 of push pin 26 and lifts the pilot valve up to a position just oil its seat. Therefore, the pilot valve is held open and spring 48 acting on the right end of lever 44 can rock lever 44 about its pivot 46 to open the main burner valve 18. Both valves will now be held open until the thermocouple is de-energized and the armature is released, whereupon spring 38 will move lever 42 upwardly and carry lever 44 with it to cause both valves to seat and cut off flow to both the main and the pilot burners.

If the reset button is depressed while both valves are open the main valve 18 will be seated since moving pin 26 down permits spring 58 to come into play and rock lever 44 about its pivot 46 to seat valve 18 by overcoming spring 48.

If now it is desired to have the summer shutdown feature the lock-out cap 66 is pushed downwardly to its full extent and turned about its axis so key 86 will underlie cover 72 to hold the lock-out cap in the position shown in Figure 1. This effectively removes spring 68 from consideration and now permits the spring 58 to move the pilot valve 32 down to the position shown in Figure 1 and at the same time to overcome spring 48 to thereby seat the main valve 18 to shut olf flow to the main burner. Now only flow to the pilot burner is permitted. If the thermocouple should be de-energized, spring 38 will move the levers as noted above and result in valve 32 seating to block further flow to the pilot burner. If the reset button is then actuated the armature can be reset with respect to the electromagnet and will be capable of holding the pilot valve in the open position during continuance of the safe condition.

From the above it will be appreciated that any time it is desired to interrupt flow to the main burner it is only necessary to push the reset button down. Furthermore, the furnace can be set up for summer conditions by pushing the lock-out cap down and turning it to prevent the main valve from opening. The same thermocouple is, therefore, operative to safely control flow to the main and pilot burners or to the pilot burner only. This is a great simplification over the prior art.

As noted above, this same type action could be employed to control switches such as, for example, switches which in turn control electromagnetic valves. In making such a substitution the valve closed position of the valves in the present embodiment would become the switch open positions while the valve open position would become the switch closed positions. However, other forms of switching arrangements can be employed depending upon the type of device being controlled by the switches through intermediate mechanism.

It should be mentioned that the tension spring 48 is provided only to insure against flutter of valve 18. The weight of valve 18 and lever 44 normally may be sufficient to bias the lever properly but spring 48 insures against any malfunction.

Although but one embodiment of the present invention has been illustrated and described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modi fications may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention or from the scope of the appended claims.

geese-es l". A' gas control va1v'e comprising, a body having an inlet' and an outlet'to a pilot burner and an outlet to a main burner, asep'arate safety'valve for each of the outlets, a single condition responsive safety device operatively connected to said valves and operative" to hold the valvesopen in response toa controlcondition and to cl'ose the'valves in absence of the condition, the safetyv device requiring res'etting,- means for resetting the safety device, means associated with thereset meansfor opening the pilot valve and for holding the pilot valve open during the resetting operation and means associated with the reset means for holding the main valve closed during the resetting operation, the safety device including means to maintain control over the pilot valve in all positions of the main valve, and means for rendering the safety device inoperative to hold the main valve open.

2. A gas control valve comprising, a body having an inlet and an outlet to a main burner and an outlet to a pilot burner, a valve for each outlet, a resettable safety device connected to both valves and operative to hold the valves open in response to a condition and to close the valves in absence of the condition, reset means for the safety device, means associated with the reset means for opening the pilot valve for holding the main valve closed during the resetting operation, and means for opening the main valve upon completion of the resetting operation, and means for disabling the last-named means for maintaining the pilot valve under the control of the safety device so that only the pilot valve is held open by the safety device.

3. A gas valve according to claim 2 in which the disabling means is opertive any time the reset means is operated so the main valve will be closed if the reset means is operated while the safety device is operative.

4. A gas valve comprising, a body having an inlet and separate outlets to a main burner and a pilot burner, a separate valve for each outlet, a safety device connected to both valves and operative in response to a condition to hold the valves open and to close the valves in absence of the condition, the safety device requiring resetting, reset means for the safety device, spring means biasing the main valve open, spring means normally ineffective to close the main valve but operable when released to overcome said first spring means to close the main valve during the resetting operation, said reset means including means for releasing said second-mentioned spring means whereby the main valve is closed whenever the reset means is operated, the reset means being operative to open the pilot valve during the reset operation and to maintain the same under the control of the safety device irrespective of the position of the main valve.

5. A gas valve according to claim 4 in which the means for releasing said second-mentioned spring means is optionally operable at all times whereby the main valve may be closed at all times when desired, leaving only the pilot valve under control of the safety device.

6. Control apparatus comprising, a pair of control de vices each movable between a first position and a second position, condition responsive means requiring resetting and operatively connected to both said control devices for holding the devices in said second position during continuance of said condition, means for moving the devices to said first position when the condition no longer obtains, means for resetting said condition responsive means, means for holding one of the devices in its first position and to move the other device to its second position during operation of the reset means, said one of said devices being movable to said second position upon completion of the resetting of the condition responsive means, and means for selectively removing said one device from control by said condition responsive means so said one device remains closed at all times and the condition responsive means controls only said other device.

7. Control apparatus comprising, lever means, a control device connectedto the lever means;- condition re sponsive means requiring resetting and connected to the lever meanspreset means connected to the lever meanslast named means in said holding position at' all times when desired whereby the control device remains in said another position regardless of the condition responsive means, a second control device connected to the lever means for regulation by said condition responsive means, the reset means including means operative to move the second control device to its operating position while maintaining regulation thereof under the control of the condition responsive means, the holding means being inoperative with regard to the second control device and the regulation thereof by said condition responsive means.

8. Control apparatus comprising, a lever, a control device carried by the lever, condition responsive means requiring resetting connected to the lever, reset means for resetting the condition responsive means,-means operative during the resetting operation to hold the device in one position and to release the device upon completion of resetting, means biasing the control device to a second position to move the device to the second position upon release by the holding means, the condition responsive means including means for moving the control device to its one position in absence of the condition to which the responsive means responds, releasable means selectively operable for rendering the holding means operative to maintain the control device in said one position at all times when desired, a second control device connected to the lever and under the control of said condition responsive means, said selectively operable release means being ineffective to alter the position of the second control device or to modify the control thereof by said condition responsive device.

9. Control apparatus according to claim 8 in which the holding means does not operate on the second control device and the second control device is moved from one position to another by operation of the reset means and is held in its said another position by the condition responsive means.

10. Control apparatus according to claim 8 in which the reset means acts on the lever.

11. Control apparatus according to claim 8 in which the second control device and the reset means are connected to the lever at the same point.

12. Control apparatus comprising, a pair of control devices each movable between first and second positions, means biasing each device to its second position, condition responsive means operatively connected to said devices to hold them in said second positions so long as the response condition obtains and to move them to their first positions in absence of the response condition, the condition responsive means requiring resetting, means for resetting the condition responsive means, and means operative during resetting to overcome the bias on one only of said devices, means efiective when the bias on said one device is being overcome to move said one device to its first position while maintaining said other device in its second position under the control of said condition responsive means.

13. Control apparatus according to claim 12 including means for selectively rendering said bias overcoming means operative at all times when desired.

14. A fluid flow control device comprising first and second control members movable between flow-preventing and flow-permitting positions, thermoelectric safety means for the control members including an eectromagnet and an armature normally occupying a retracted position and movable to an attracted position, in which position the armature is retained in response to a condition, reset means for resetting the electromagnet and armature to attracted position and for moving one of the control members to its flow permitting position, means operative upon successful completion of the resetting operation to move the other control member to its flow-permitting position, means for overcoming the last-named means whereby said other control member is retained in its flow preventing position at all times while retaining said one control member under the control of the thermoelectric safety means irrespective of the posi- 8 tion of said other control member, and means for moving both flow control members to flow-preventing position when the armature and electromagnet are retracted.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,578,194 Matthews Dec. 11, 1951 2,719,531 Sogge Oct. 4, 1955 2,831,491 Cunnien Apr. 22, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,033,659 France Apr. 8, 1953 

